Inside the role: Hilary Tam's journey to becoming an AWS commercial sustainability leader

Tam helps AWS customers identify where their unique competencies and efforts can align with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which serves as a ‘to-do list’ for governments but relies heavily on the private sector to create a better future by 2030.

"For businesses in the AWS community, sustainability is about getting future fit," Tam explains.
Tam sees sustainability as one of the most exciting commercial innovation opportunities of our time. She advocates taking a value chain approach as an organization’s environmental impact will transcend their own operations to include their suppliers and end consumers.

From a carbon emissions perspective, anywhere between 80 to 95 percent of an organization’s footprint will fall outside of their direct control, widely referred to as the Scope 3 challenge.

"Technology and a strong data foundation are crucial for sustainable progress," Tam said, adding that manual solutions are no longer sufficient. "While it’s not a silver bullet, technology can accelerate tools and solutions that exist today and give life to new solutions that have yet to be invented. Current estimates are that around 40 to 60 percent of the innovations needed to help the world achieve net zero by 2050 – as called for in the Paris Agreement to keep global warming to no more than 1.5ºC – have yet to be fully developed or deployed at scale."

While addressing climate change is a top priority, Tam recognizes it is intrinsically linked to protecting nature and biodiversity. AWS's partnership with organizations such as the Natural History Museum (NHM) exemplify the company's approach to understanding the interconnectedness of our planet's ecosystems.

"Historical climate data allows us to model and set net-zero roadmaps and targets, but for nature and biodiversity, once it's gone, it's gone," Tam said.

The public-private sector partnership between AWS and the NHM aims to accelerate scientific research so that data and insights can be shared with broader industries to inform actions. Tam said restoring nature is one of the most powerful tools in mitigating climate change while adapting to the realities of a hotter planet.  

Similar to her approach to working with businesses, Tam advises aspiring sustainability leaders to build on existing expertise to learn how sustainability can be applied in their domain.

"Those who don’t have ‘sustainability’ in their titles will increasingly become responsible for implementing and executing sustainability strategies as they become integrated into everything we do," Tam said.

This approach aligns with the principles for workplace fulfillment around the need for autonomy, mastery, and purpose, as described by author Daniel Pink. Tam also emphasizes that from an employer’s perspective, sustainability can also improve brand equity and foster a positive workplace culture, while inspiring innovation.

Challenges remain to realizing the full opportunity value of sustainability as Tam notes that making the business case for new products and services can feel abstract and hard to quantify.

"Having clear and compelling long-term vision while having tactical first steps is crucial," she said. "At AWS, we talk about thinking big, starting small, and going fast. It’s about hacking sustainability into existing mechanisms or programs. Most people want to take action but have trouble knowing where to begin."

To overcome these challenges, Tam firmly believes in the power of storytelling.

"A strategy is only as good as people’s understanding of it," although she also forewarns that “a story without action is green-washing.”

Showcasing early signs of what’s possible by spotlighting lighthouse customers who are already making real-world sustainability impact through the AWS cloud will inspire others.

"We can’t wait to see the next wave of future fit businesses leading the way and it's all closer than you think,” she said.

Tam has been with AWS for two years and is proud of her work to shift the narrative from a restrictive, do-less-harm mindset to one that is net positive and regenerative – supported by sustainability champions around her.

"Working at AWS is a unique opportunity to effect change and reflects our Leadership Principle of Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility," she said. "It’s about accelerating a sustainable digital economy that is in service of people and planet.”